Welcome back to the blog readers. Recently, an unfortunate even occurred in our culture. The Mandalorian's third season came to an end. It was such a long wait to get to this point but we are here. Now that the season is over, I wanted to give my spoiler-filled thoughts on the season as a whole. Did it stand up with the first two seasons? Was it a letdown? Stick around and find out.
Starring Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin/The Mandalorian, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan Kryze, and Grogu, this season of The Mandalorian takes place after the events of The Book of Boba Fett, and sees Din Djarin roaming the galaxy as an apostate and attempting to redeem himself after removing his helmet in Season 2. Along the way, he will join forces with Bo-Katan Kryze and other Mandalorians and allies as they try to retake Mandalore and discover an emerging threat to the galaxy.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, and I will also be spoiling the events of the season finale "Chapter 24: The Return," so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the full season or the final episode.
I have been dying to see this season of The Mandalorian since the second season ended in December 2020, with that fantastic reveal of Luke Skywalker being the Jedi that Grogu reached out to on Tython. In the events of The Book of Boba Fett, Grogu begins training under Luke but decides to abandon this training to return to his friend Din Djarin, who is attempting to make his way through the galaxy as an apostate after removing his helmet when Luke takes Grogu. This involves paying his debt to Boba Fett by helping him take care of the Pyke Syndicate in Mos Espa, where he is reunited with Grogu. These events lead us into the third season of The Mandalorian.
I will say now that this season was a step down in quality as compared to the previous two, but it still had its great episodes and moments to delight the audience. The chemistry and the bond between Din and Grogu has reached an adorable level, where Din basically acts like Grogu's father for most of the season (a role Pedro Pascal doubled up on this year with the excellent HBO series The Last of Us). The supporting cast and guest appearances are awesome as well, for the most part, and add some fresh air to the series.
Of course, you knew I was going to talk about Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin. He doesn't remove his helmet at all this season, but his voice is just so silky smooth as it always is. Even though it has been a while since the series started, it sounds as if Pedro Pascal's age hasn't caught up to him yet. I maybe would like to see there be a hint of the age for next season, whenever that may be. He certainly is involved in some of the better moments of the season, those of which I will discuss later.
Katee Sackhoff jumps right back into the saddle as one of the more famous Mandalorians Bo-Katan Kryze, and she absolutely kills it in this role. This show obviously isn't an actor's show, but Sackhoff delivers the goods where she has to, going from defeated recluse to the champion of the Mandalorian people. This is a character arc done right, and it deserves all the praise in the world.
When we first see her, she is on her home world of Kalevala, disparate that in the time since Moff Gideon's defeat and capture, she did not get the Darksaber and ultimately failed to rally enough support to her mission to reclaim Mandalore, with her allies turning to mercenary work. She gave up her claim and told Din to forget about it, something she could not do when she was asked by Grogu to save Din from a cyborg creature thing in the Mines of Mandalore, in which she had to use the Darksaber. When the group eventually gets to the Living Waters of Mandalore, she goes in to save Din after he almost drowns, and comes face-to-face with the legendary Mythosaur. Because she technically "bathed" in the Living Waters, she is accepted into Din's group and becomes their leader after she leads a rescue team to save Paz Vizsla's son Ragnar from a flying dinosaur-looking creature, and a strike team to save Nevarro from a pirate invasion. She eventually gets the Darksaber back and leads the Mandalorians in a fight against the returning Moff Gideon, who took over Mandalore. With the help of Grogu and Din, Gideon is defeated once and for al, but at the cost of the Darksaber. Bo-Katan leads her people into restarting the Great Forge and the future of the Mandalorian people.
Yeah, I know that was a lot but it was necessary to show the growth of her character throughout the season. And it was also amazing that Katee got a starring credit for this season, and that she was featured in every episode of the season. I hope she continues to play Bo-Katan for as long as she wants to because I cannot see anyone else being able to step in to those Mythosaur-sized shoes.
The true MVP of this season though has to be Grogu. If not for anything else, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni upped the cuteness factor for Grogu this season, with him getting some of the best moments. From using the Force to save his dad multiple times to winning a sparring match against another Mandalorian foundling to defeating a yeti creature by himself, Grogu has really come into his own since being trained by Luke Skywalker and has adapted some of his passive teachings to this dangerous galaxy they call home.
I also really appreciated the supporting cast. Emily Swallow is wonderful as always as the soft-spoken Armorer. I just love her voice for this character, I can't lie. And it's also nice that she got some more to do this season as well. For really the first time since season 1, she gets her hands dirty and joins the fight in the finale, and even gets in some brutal kills. It is always nice to see Carl Weathers as Greef Karga, who is now the High Magistrate of Nevarro. He has a bit less to do this season but he is still as badass as ever. Sliding very nicely into his new title, he seems like the leader Nevarro has needed since we were introduced to the planet in season 1. And his planet gets a nice ending too this season. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee returns as Captain Carson Teva and although he only appears in two episodes, he is awesome as someone who creates a solid alliance with Din. One more I wanted to talk about was that of Giancarlo Esposito as Moff Gideon. I have loved this character since season 1 and I truthfully was a little upset that he only got two episodes this season. And judging how his character ended up in the finale, I'm sad to say this may be the end of Moff Gideon.
The guests this season were really hit and miss for me. Amy Sedaris owns the role of Peli Motto, and I hope she gets her own spinoff, even though she was in this season for like 5 minutes. Omid Abtahi returns for one episode as Dr. Pershing and actually gets a tragic ending in his episode, one that I was pretty mixed on. Nothing to do with his stellar performance, by the way. Jack Black and Lizzo guest star as a royal couple on a new planet and their appearances did not sit right with me at all. Again, nothing to do with their honestly fine performances, it was just jarring for a series like The Mandalorian. Christopher Lloyd was in that episode too and he plays a villain, something that was completely unexpected for the former and always Doc Brown. He had a good performance for me as well. And Tim Meadows plays a New Republic colonel and is good for the 5 minutes he is there as well.
Finally, the one guest I want to talk about is Ahmed Best as the Jedi Kelleran Beq. In Chapter 20, it is revealed he is the one to save Grogu from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, and this gave me the biggest smile imaginable. Ahmed Best was the subject of so much unnecessary ridicule for playing Jar-Jar Binks, so much so that he even received death threats and considered quitting acting. The fact that he agreed to do this just shows you how strong he was. I have seen nothing but love and support for him since this episode released and I am so happy he has finally got some redemption, especially with his character being the one who saves Grogu. I have one more thing to say to anyone who gave this man shit for Jar-Jar. You should be ashamed of yourselves. That is not what fandom is about. He was given a job to do and he did it. You can choose whether or not to like the job he did but you had no right to attack him as an actor and as a man. I hope this episode shut all of you losers up for good, and I hope there isn't a place for you in the Star Wars community, because you don't deserve a place here. Not now, not then and not ever.
Now that I got that rant out of the way, I want to mention two episodes that were very weak in my opinion: "Chapter 19: The Convert" and "Chapter 22: Guns for Hire." Both of these episodes were complete tonal shifts for not only this season, but for the series as a whole. In Chapter 19, we follow Dr. Pershing as he attempts to move past his time as a member of the Empire and adjust to life in the New Republic. He gets goaded into stealing tech that gets him arrested by the New Republic and his mind wiped (and possibly worse). In Chapter 22, Mando, Bo-Katan and Grogu go to the planet Plazir-15, where they get entangled in a conspiracy involving faulty droids and a Separatist loyalist which was absolutely annoying. Probably the worst episode of the series so far.
They did a wonderful job of continuing to evolve the relationship between Din and Grogu this season. They still have an Odd Couple-like relationship, but over the season they get closer and closer. This gets to the point where by the finale, Grogu is powering an exoskeleton that was the body of IG-11 and the two are saving each other from Moff Gideon's forces. That is literally the cutest thing ever and that is everything I have wanted this season. And it even concludes with Din formally adopting Grogu as his own son. When I tell you I almost cried, I mean it. That moment got me so emotional, and especially knowing he did it so Grogu can officially join the enclave. I love every second of it and I want more of that next season.
I know that was a pretty long review and I thank you all so much for reading it all. So I promise to keep my next topic pretty short. I know in my Chapter 23 review I said that I was going to try to do a Theory Time in my Chapter 24 review and that did not happen as you probably saw. And I did say that I would do it in my full season review. So here it is.
NOTE: Again, I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, and I will also be spoiling the events of the season finale "Chapter 24: The Return," so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the full season or the final episode.
I read somewhere on Twitter of a theory that the Moff Gideon we saw on Mandalore was not the real Moff Gideon because he did not have a mustache. I don't know why but I seriously buy this theory. It would also give them an excuse to bring Giancarlo Esposito back, because I love him in this role and it would be upsetting to continue the show without him. If you remember in the finale, Din and Grogu destroy clones of Gideon that are imbued with Grogu's blood, which would have given him an unstoppable army of himself with Force powers. That shit would have been scary.
The Shadow Council does not seem like they are ones to go away quietly. We know they are awaiting the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and I am a tad bit surprised we didn't see him in the finale episode. I honestly do think we are going to see more members of the Shadow Council in Ahsoka this August. It was cool seeing Domhnall Gleeson's brother Brian playing Hux's father though. And whatever the Shadow Council is planning, I can bet it involves the Emperor's return. Remember the codename they had for it? Project Necromancer? I do, and we are going to be in for a treat once this Mando-verse wraps up with the Dave Filoni-led film.
Now that Din has adopted Grogu as his own son, the plot of season 4 could possibly revolve around Grogu completing his apprenticeship and officially becoming a Mandalorian. That would be the perfect way to end the series if Jon and Dave decide that 4 seasons is good. We could possibly see some ancient Mandalorian trials, which would be freakin' awesome. And Grogu could use the Force to do it, which would literally be the cutest thing ever. Please pull that trigger guys, I am literally begging you here.
Thank you all so much for reading this longer post, and I hope you all enjoyed my review of the third season of The Mandalorian. I will see you guys for next season's review.
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